This is a revision to the previous article, Toxic Care. Some minor details were in error in the first article but the main content of the stories remain the same. I've also added a story a wife emailed to me after the original article.
I spoke with a mom yesterday who told me her son, who served as a combat medic in Iraq, is having his PTSD diagnosis revoked until he can produce three witnesses to corroborate his traumatic events. The soldier was in Iraq three years ago. After his tour in Iraq he was assigned to work as a medic in Walter Reed's spinal cord injury and amputee unit.
Walter Reed became a nightmarish recreation of Iraq for the medic. Eventually he was involuntarily extended and sent back to a combat unit about to deploy to Afghanistan. He wasn't able to redeploy, however, because of a physical injury incurred while serving in Iraq that required surgical repair.
After coming back from Iraq and while working at Walter Reed, the medic began to drink and was having combat nightmares. He was constantly depressed and having suicidal thinking at times.
He resisted seeking mental health care because he felt it would adversely affect him if he did have to redeploy. He feared others in his unit wouldn't trust him if he was considered a "nut case".
Finally with continued urging from his family and friends outside the military, he did seek mental health care. The medic was diagnosed with PTSD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder. He also entered a treatment program to help prevent the use of alcohol as a way to self medicate.
The medic had turned against the war during his time in Iraq but continued to do his duty without a strong declaration of that opposition. He felt an obligation toward his fellow soldiers to support them which kept him from overt dissent.
Finally in 2005 he joined anti-war veterans to oppose the war when he wasn't on duty. Finally, the young medic decided the only way he could truly support his fellow troops was to oppose their deployment and redeployment. And to support them coming home.
The Army came to the conclusion the soldier couldn't be successfully rehabilitated for physical and emotional problems while in the service. He's being told he’ll receive a medical discharge in the near future.
It now appears the Army has decided to award the young medic's duty of treating wounds of other troops by revoking his PTSD diagnosis if he fails to produce three witnesses to specific events of trauma.
How ludicrous the Army appears to demand a combat medic prove he witnessed the trauma of war while assigned to a combat unit in Iraq. How foolish they appear telling this medic he needs witnesses three years after he served in Iraq.
Any soldier or Marine who served in combat knows there is a constant flux of men coming and going in their unit because of death, wounds requiring evacuation and just the normal rotation for discharge and end of tours.
Any soldier and Marine knows finding witnesses to what they are asked to do in combat is the farthest thing from their mind. And a military personnel record can verify if an individual has been in a combat situation.
Any professional with experience in combat induced PTSD can testify memory loss and repression of memories are cardinal symptoms of the disorder. They can also testify that suicidal thinking, depressive symptoms and hyper-vigilant and paranoid appearing behaviors are common symptoms of PTSD. Use of alcohol or other substances to try forgetting horrible events of combat (self medication) is very common, as well.
The medic exhibited all the classic symptoms of combat induced PTSD, was diagnosed with the disorder and was treated for the disorder. But, now, the Army has mysteriously decided to make his continued treatment much more difficult or impossible with the foolish imposition of witness corroboration.
Not too long ago, the VA attempted to do the same thing with Vietnam veterans diagnosed with PTSD. Only a loud outcry by veterans' advocacy groups stopped that attempt.
The callous attempt to manipulate combat veterans' treatment has an obvious reason. The reduction of healthcare costs for veterans will be at the expense of their healing. Once again it is the veteran who will bear the costs of war even in the promised care for their wounds.
The Army says the young medic can go to the VA to regain his diagnosis of PTSD once discharged. His mom rightfully worries it will be a long time before he can be seen at the VA to determine he has PTSD that has already once been diagnosed. She worries he'll be without treatment and his symptoms and problems will worsen.
All recent studies and investigations have shown the VA system fails the veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan because of poor funding and understaffed clinics. Waits for disposition of diagnoses such as PTSD have been as long as two or more years.
Any professional with experience in treating combat induced PTSD can testify the best prognosis for controlling PTSD symptoms and avoid intractable, lifetime symptoms is early intervention.
A key problem with the care of active duty and VA eligible veterans struggling with PTSD continues to be the lack of experienced therapists. Seventy per cent of the therapists treating the men and women presenting with symptoms of PTSD have no previous experience in treating the disorder.
I also recently spoke with a soldier who was about to be redeployed even though he'd been diagnosed with PTSD, Adjustment Disorder and Major Depression.
The young soldier had attempted to harm himself but a fellow soldier had intervened.
Another soldier had called me because he was worried the young soldier would harm himself before he deployed or once he was back in Iraq. He asked that I call his friend to consult with him about his mental health issues.
I called and began a lengthy evaluation of the soldier's situation over the phone. I have several years experience working with psychiatric emergency teams, emergency phone triage and in a psychiatric emergency room.
The soldier was very polite, using the word, "Sir", often in our discussion. He told me he was worried he couldn't perform the duties he would be asked to do if he was in Iraq because he was having daily panic attacks. The attacks were increasing in number and duration.
The soldier also had an eighteen year old wife who had taken a restraining order out against him. There hadn't been violence but the soldier had become involved in verbal altercations with his wife and she was frightened he might act out against her.
He also has a three month old daughter he hasn't been able to see since the restraining order had been taken out. He worries about the care of the daughter because he discovered his wife is going out with old high school friends every weekend while leaving the daughter with the wife's mother. The wife was spending late hours in bars with the friends.
He reported having suicidal thoughts almost daily. He says he's had thoughts of killing his squad leader who has been petty and harassing toward him since his return from Iraq.
The soldier was seen by an Army psychologist recently and diagnosed with PTSD, Adjustment Disorder and Major Depression. The psychologist arranged an appointment with an Army psychiatrist for the soldier to be evaluated for medication treatment.
The appointment date with the doctor just happened to be one day after the soldier was to return to Iraq. His command told him mental health treatment would be available for him once he got settled in his base at Iraq.
The soldier knew, however, the mental health unit (Combat Stress Team) wasn’t on the base he was to be assigned to. The soldier would have to be taken by convoy to the where the stress team was located. Fellow soldiers would have to accompany him to go to the appointments for his treatment.
The soldier adamantly told me he'd never put fellow soldiers at risk for possible IED and roadside bomb attacks to transport him to have treatment.
He was also clear he felt he'd be unable to be as reactive and alert as he would need to be in a combat situation because his panic attacks were unpredictable and made him "freeze up".
The soldier asked me if I felt he should be treated before returning to Iraq. I reviewed his risk factors with him.
He had panic attacks with increasing regularity and intensity. He had suicidal thinking. He was having domestic problems. He had homicidal thinking. He faced a return to combat and he was untreated for any of his emotional problems.
The soldier was sure he couldn't get the help he wanted through the military healthcare system because he'd already tried and they dismissed his symptoms as normal. He didn't feel they were "normal".
My assessment from our discussion was he had significant risks that would make him a danger to himself or others. I felt his risks would be especially debilitating should he be in a combat zone trying to perform the duties of a combat infantryman.
I told him that I wouldn't want him covering my back in the condition he described. I felt I had a certain expertise from my own combat experiences as a Marine infantryman in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive and the following eleven months.
I suggested the soldier could use a emergency room at a civilian hospital to get a full psychiatric evaluation if he felt sure the Army hospital on base wouldn't address his mental health issues. The soldier told me he'd consider taking such action.
I found out the soldier did go to a local hospital ED the following day with two active duty soldiers accompanying him. He was placed on a mental health hold and admitted to the hospital's psychiatric unit. They kept the soldier hospitalized over a week before discharging him back to the military.
In today's healthcare system being admitted to a psychiatric unit requires an individual be an extreme risk to themselves or others or be gravely disabled. The fact this soldier was hospitalized confirmed what I feared when I spoke with him.
I was later told the soldier was medically discharged from the Army under honorable conditions about a week after he left the civilian hospital. Now he faces getting his treatment expedited at the VA.
The good news in his story would be he didn't go to Iraq again and possibly endanger his own life or the lives of his fellow soldiers.
Had the soldier gone along with the military in seeking help for his PTSD condition he'd be in Iraq with his symptoms worsening every day he was in country. And, he'd be without treatment.
The sad news in the story is the news he was medically discharged proved to be untrue. Instead, the young soldier was placed on a temporary medical hold but will soon return to his unit and be redeployed to Iraq.
Another mom called a friend of mine seeking help for her son stationed in Iraq. My friend works with local military families who are opposed to the war. Her son is the combat medic I first wrote about.
The mom with her son in Iraq was frantic because her son had gotten in trouble with his command. He was facing a Summary Court Martial for threatening the life of his 1 st Sergeant, failing to carry out several normal duties expected of him and missing several formations.
The soldier had seen some of his fellow troops killed during his tour in Iraq and had been shot himself but his Kevlar vest had prevented him being wounded. He had also become suicidal as well as homicidal.
His command placed the soldier on suicide watch and placed him in a barracks closet for observation purposes. The closet was situated next door to the quarters of his 1st Sergeant. The closet had a fire ax and ropes that weren’t removed even though the soldier could harm himself or someone else with them if he wasn't closely watched.
This soldier had enlisted in Colorado despite his mom's objection. His mom was terribly worried about him enlisting because he'd been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder when he was eight years old.
He'd been treated with medications with only partial effectiveness up until the time of his enlistment. His psychiatrist, who testified by phone at his Summary Court Martial, stated he would be unable to function in the Army if he stopped taking his medication and in all likelihood even if medicated he'd be unable to withstand military life.
The soldier's recruiter in Colorado was informed of the ADD by the mother. The recruiter told the mom he'd "note" it on the recruit's record. During an Inspector General's investigation requested by the soldier, there was no record of the recruiter "noting" the ADD diagnosis.
The soldier says the recruiter had advised him not to mention the diagnosis because “plenty” of soldiers had the ADD diagnosis. The recruiter denied doing this during the IG inspection. The IG found no basis for the recruiter falsely enlisting the soldier.
They did find basis for the soldier being prosecuted for fraudulent enlistment under federal law. If convicted of that charge the soldier could be sentenced up to ten years in federal prison.
The soldier's mom went to her congressman's office for help. She felt she was patronized by the military liaison. He told her the soldier should just go along with "the program" to avoid problems. He said the soldier reminded him of himself when he was a young rebellious soldier.
The frustrated mom then went to her Senator's office. They told her it would take up to three weeks to do a welfare check. They also told her the soldier faced "big trouble" for his fraudulent enlistment and should just accept the Summary Court Martial and move on with his military service.
Finally the mom became frantic and called my friend who works with military families. She had some previous contact with the Senator's military liaison. My friend was able to cajole the liaison to make an inquiry faster than the three weeks the mom had been told it would take.
The mom was also advised to seek legal assistance. She hired a local attorney who had military law experience. That attorney contacted a friend of his in the Green Zone to request that he make inquiries about the soldier's case.
The attorney in the Green Zone told the local attorney he felt the commanding officer of the soldier planned on making an "example" of him because he'd made a threat against the 1 st Sergeant.
He also said the Combat Stress Team had not become involved while the soldier was under indictment for a Summary Court Martial. Only the soldier's civilian psychiatrist would testify about his mental health problems.
The soldier was convicted and sentenced to 15 days in the stockade in Kuwait and another 15 days in a Baghdad stockade. After his Baghdad incarceration the soldier was to return to his unit under the same command of the 1 st Sergeant and commanding officer.
Currently there has been conflicting reports the Army plans on mustering the soldier out with a medical discharge based on his preexisting condition of ADD or that he will have to make up the time spent in the stockade and finish his tour in Iraq.
If the soldier is discharged for the preexisting condition he'll be ineligible for VA benefits and all other veteran benefits. He'll be without benefits despite being shot, though saved by his Kevlar vest, and spending time in combat.
The last time the mom heard from her son he told her he'd still not been given medications despite the psychiatrist's testimony. In fact, the soldier hasn't had medications since he joined the military.
There is some research that shows the regimentation of the military is beneficial to individuals diagnosed with ADD. The military does give waivers for individuals with ADD but their regulations state the person must have a stage of ADD that is controllable.
This soldier's psychiatrist stated the soldier has never been fully controlled even with a higher dose of medications. He functioned poorly in school and in his attempts to go to college. And still the military seems to hold on to the need to not only punish the soldier but to further exacerbate his condition by returning him to a combat condition.
Just this past week (Oct 7-Oct 14, 2007) the mother talked with her son. He reports he’s now back with his company and again under the command of the 1st Sergeant. The 1st Sergeant, 38 years old, is harassing the 20 year old soldier by calling him “ a piece of shit soldier” and suggesting this Halloween he should “dress up as a ‘real’ soldier”.
Other members of the company have joined in on the hazing and harassment. The soldier and his parents are sure the 1st Sergeant is overtly attempting to cause the soldier to “snap” in order to provoke reactions that will allow charges to be filed.
Maybe the 1st Sergeant fell in love with the movie, “From Here to Eternity” and wants to be the sadist sergeant, Fatso Judson, but his actions toward a 20 year old soldier do nothing to further the reputation of the military. In fact, it really seems the 1st Sergeant is the soldier that should face charges based on the Uniformed Military Justice Code.
And a mother continues to frantically try saving her son from the possible horrible consequences of a toxic military healthcare system that seems to lack all standards of care normally expected in the treatment of mental health problems.
Addendum:
Since the first writing of the Toxic Care story I've received another email from a wife of an Iraq vet who lives in Colorado Springs, CO. The wife was desperate to find help for her veteran husband who has severe PTSD symptoms.
Recently the husband held the wife literally hostage in a flashback incident. The wife reports he was speaking Arabic and forced her into a prisoner position often seen in photos from the Iraq war.
The wife was somehow able to reach a phone and call a Vietnam vet friend of her husband. The friend was able to talk the husband down from his dissociative state and he "released" his wife from her captivity.
The wife called the Colorado Springs VA outpatient clinic but because of the hour discovered there was no help available. The clinic was closed, even though a large military base was just outside Colorado Springs (Fort Carson) and the city has many returned combat veterans in residence.
Desperate, the wife called Penrose Hospital, a private facility in Colorado Springs. When she reached the psychiatric team at Penrose she was instructed to take her two children out of the house to avoid any further threat of violence.
The wife made sure to tell the Penrose psychiatric team her husband had been having a flashback and needed immediate psychiatric care. She also told them he was no longer a threat because he had finally fallen asleep.
The nurse at Penrose told the wife they would send an ambulance to the home of the veteran. Moments after the wife had talked to Penrose, the Colorado Springs police arrived and barged into the home of the sleeping veteran to arrest him.
He was charged with felony menacing and domestic violence and by state law a restraint order to prevent him contacting his wife and children was implemented. The veteran was taken to El Paso County's jail and held for over three days. He was never seen at a psychiatric facility or provided a psychiatric evaluation.
The wife immediately tried to provide the veteran's medication to the jail personnel but was refused. She wasn't given a reason why the jail wouldn't provide medications prescribed by the VA to her husband.
Before the veteran could return home the wife had to get the restraint order removed. It took her three days to accomplish that.
The wife reports her husband has received minimal care at the local outpatient VA clinic in Colorado Springs. The family moved from the state of New York, where the husband had been treated for PTSD at a VA clinic. He had been prescribed medications for his symptoms.
Once in Colorado Springs, the VA clinic there told the veteran he should call for a possible appointment every Wednesday morning but there was no guarantee of available appointments.
The Colorado Springs VA didn't bother to inform the Iraq vet about the Vet Center program that was available to him. Only later would he and his wife find out about the Vet Center and enter treatment.
The veteran was arraigned for felonies. The wife informed the local El Paso County DA she wouldn't testify against her husband and would invoke the 5th Amendment refusal to testify.
The DA informed the judge assigned the case the wife had told him she wouldn't honor a subpoena if given one. The judge chastised the wife that he would institute a bench warrant for her arrest if she failed to report. She informed him she'd never told the DA she wouldn't honor a subpoena.
Seeing that her husband faced imprisonment in a criminal case rather than getting the help he needed, the wife hired a criminal attorney. The attorney had little knowledge about PTSD and seemed unwilling to use the veteran's state of mind as a defense.
In fact, the attorney suggested the veteran accept a plea bargain for a deferred sentence on the felony menacing and domestic violence charge. Accepting the plea would mean the veteran would be obligated to be in mandatory treatment for a period of time. If he accepted the plea and met the terms of the sentence, the felony would be dropped from his record.
The veteran refused to accept the plea fearing the felony would still be on his record and feeling he'd made a good faith effort to get into treatment but had been turned away from the VA because of the lack of available appointments.
Days after the veteran was released from jail in Colorado Springs he and his wife went to Denver's VA Medical Center. He was admitted to the psychiatric unit for PTSD. His medications were changed from what he had been prescribed in New York. He was then referred back to the Colorado Springs VA clinic; the same clinic which couldn't guarantee an appointment on a timely basis.
The Iraq vet works as a steelworker but his medication has caused him to miss several days because of adverse side effects. He also missed work because he had been jailed.
The wife reports she's going to school to become a massage therapist with the express intent that using an alternative care might help her husband. She says she's read and studied everything she could get her hands on about PTSD. She was certain her husband would have traumatic memories and emotional problems because of his combat experiences.
The wife reports her attorney showed her emails from the DA to him stating he intended to prosecute the veteran as a criminal and would try to block any attempt to use his mental status as a defense.
The DA also told the wife at one point he didn't care what the veteran did to her but he did care about what he might do to someone else.
The current status of the case is the veteran faces prison for what his wife describes as a dissociative state or flashback to his combat experience. Instead of getting the immediate mental health treatment he deserved, he faces punishment for incurring trauma in a war.
The message the El Paso County DA gives to all veterans who are troubled with PTSD caused by their wartime experience is clear. He doesn't care. He will not accept young men or women can have flashbacks or angry outbursts when triggered. He has no regard for the emotional state of veterans despite the known symptoms of combat PTSD.
The El Paso County DA probably has no problem with young men and women going to war, killing and wounding other humans or being traumatized while he sits in the comfort of his home. He probably doesn't mind going to parades or other patriotic ceremonies honoring the returning troops. He just doesn't want to hear about their problems.
I doubt the El Paso County DA cares that more than one in three soldiers and Marines will need mental health care. His answer to PTSD seems to be punishment and the use of forensic mental healthcare. No one can say he's soft on crime.
In many ways the refusal to care about the problems of returned veterans is not just confined to the supporters of the war. I can't say how many times I've tried to get peace activists fired up about the trauma veterans have endured and the cost it will have on families and all of society if left untreated.
The activists are constantly asking me if I can find a veteran to take part in a rally or march to speak about their wartime experiences. And most times there are veterans who do want to speak out but we fail these veterans if we aren't willing to listen to the emotional toll it takes to talk about their trauma. We fail the veterans if we don't recognize the urgent need for them to get needed treatment and to begin healing.
And we have to wonder just how many more mothers and fathers face such horrors for their children. How many parents have gone along with the suggested chain of command "ways" and lost a child because of it?
We have to wonder how many spouses face the same situations of a returned husband or wife facing long waits for care and being unable to adjust after their time in combat. How many will face flashbacks leading to possible violence toward them or their kids? How many veterans will lose hope and decide suicide by cop or at their own hands is their only solution?
The latest news about the care of returning soldiers with both physical and mental health problems remains much the same as before the Washington Post’s Walter Reed story came to light.
Now it's coming to light that many of the troops who have lost limbs or are disabled because of mental health problems also face bankruptcy, loss of homes and poverty because of a system wide failure to provide the needed care and to compensate at a level above impoverishment when a disability is given a veteran.
The American support of troops obviously stops once the troops have done the bidding of their military masters. We fail to remember what was asked of the young men and women who sought to serve their country once they return from that service.
We've become a disposable society to such an extent we aren't troubled with the disposal of our young troops. Just as we marginalize the communities of color and poverty, we've come to do the same with the veteran.
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
Psychiatric RN
USMC combat infantry veteran
RVN 1967-69
Monday, October 15
Monday, October 8
Columbus Day - Hate and Racism Continued
“In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”…..goes the rhyme my Anglo-Saxon educators taught us in the Denver Public Schools. We’d get Columbus Day off every year to honor the Italian sailor who allegedly discovered “America”.
They used to teach us other lies, too. Like this nation is a democracy. Like “all men are created equal”. Like this is the land of freedom.
It used to be I had an almost reverent opinion of my school teachers who taught me these things. I felt teachers were to be honored because they brought knowledge to children. I found out too late they really served as the carriers of the disease of nationalism and capitalism.
I found out too late my teachers fed me full of European lies that were racist to the core. And to this day, they continue to do so. How do I know? Because, to this day, this nation and this city of Denver continues to honor the genocidal exploits of the Italian sailor called Columbus.
The Catholic Church continues to honor a man who plundered and destroyed the cultures of indigenous peoples by his staking claim and literally stealing the lands of these peoples. The Knights of Columbus continue to be an active men’s organization in the Church.
Columbus set into action hundreds of years of destruction and death targeting indigenous peoples in North and South Americas and the areas in the vicinity. He brought the arrogance of the European barbarians to the shores of the Americas and used the Church to justify his barbarism.
I recently read a column by Paul Campos (The Rocky Mountain News, October 2, 2007) about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that caught my attention when the writer captured the European/American mindset in one of his paragraphs. He said:
“In short, when a political leader claims he is the head of a unique nation, anointed by history or even God himself to be a light unto the world, we tend to consider him either an amusing crank or a dangerous lunatic.
Unless that leader happens to an American president - then he's merely stating a self-evident truth”.
That same mindset continues today in the continued arrogance of certain Americans celebrating Christopher Columbus. Here in Denver, that group is mostly Italian-Americans who refuse to acknowledge the racism of Columbus.
They refuse to understand the insult their yearly parades honoring this man is toward the descendants of the indigenous peoples he enslaved and killed after he and his troops had stolen their lands in their Christian self-righteousness.
This past Saturday, October 6, 2007, Italian-Americans in Denver organized a parade to run in the downtown area of the city. And once again a large group of Native Americans and supporters came to block their way in the parade route.
83 of the protestors were arrested by the Denver Police Department dressed in riot gear, pointing weapons, wielding offensive batons and using pain holds.
It was clear the police were practicing for the upcoming 2008 Democratic Convention to be held in Denver. The message is clear that the Denver Police Department will utilize a violent response to any protestors at the convention.
The 83 protestors arrested at the Columbus Day Parade included the leaders and organizers of the protest. This is another clear message to be kept in mind for the upcoming convention.
The Columbus Day “holiday” started in Denver in 1907 and later became a national holiday. It has been slowly diminished in status because employers no longer want to pay holiday pay or let employees have the day off. It even receded somewhat in stature here in Denver until the last ten to fifteen years.
Now it has become a yearly event for a group of revisionist Italian-Americans to hold the parade in acknowledged defiance of the local Native American community’s objection to a man who slaughtered and enslaved their historical ancestors.
The Italian-Americans feel it their God given right to enshrine and celebrate a man responsible for more deaths than Hitler by saying his actions were only acts that were common during that time in history.
They even go so far as trying to make the indigenous peoples out as villains and savages because they fought back in attempts to save the land that was rightfully theirs. Today, no doubt, the Italians would say the indigenous peoples were “insurgents” or “terrorists”.
There is a great correlation to the continued American “manifest destiny” and “American exceptionalism” throughout the world and the annihilation of the Native American population began by Columbus.
Today our indigenous peoples are located in Iraq and Afghanistan. During “my war of liberation” it was the Vietnamese.
The savages or insurgents or terrorists or guerillas of American history have always been described in ways to demonize and vilify a culture and people. The young of the Euro-centric education system aren’t allowed to learn about these cultures unless they take it upon themselves to do so.
The omission of knowledge about cultures other than European taught in public schools and most other schools in this nation has made it easy to recruit young men (and now young women) into the military to fight the “demons” opposing our way of life. Lack of knowledge about a culture has made it easy to have My Lai and Haditha type events to occur.
It is no mistake the troops going to these remote nations have lack of knowledge about their cultures. If we were to make a people human by learning about their ways of life it would become more difficult to kill them. And so it was with the indigenous people Christopher Columbus encountered.
Peoples with ancient ways of preserving lands and living in peace were seen as heathens and savages because they weren’t Christians. They weren’t Europeans. Their skin tones were dark and therefore seen as inferior.
I grew up in this state, living most of the time here in Denver. During my school years state history was a required subject from grade school until high school. I vividly remember reading about the miners and settlers of the state but there was seldom a mention of the true natives of this state.
Sure, we learned about Mesa Verde and mysterious cave dwellers that disappeared centuries before the European ever arrived. We learned there were Ute, Araphoe, Sioux, Cheyenne, Apache and Navaho tribes that once had large numbers here.
We didn’t learn about the Sand Creek Massacre. We didn’t learn about the cultures of these tribes.
I don’t remember Native Americans being in my Denver Public Schools classes in the 1960’s. I look back now and about the only thing I remember indicating Native Americans once owned this land are the street names.
Many of the streets in the city bear tribal names which few of us give a second thought. Few of us care about the origin of those names.
A few years back I was arrested at one of the Columbus Day parades for blocking the route of the Italians and their associates celebrating the man responsible for the start of the continued genocide of the natives of this land.
The cases against me and the hundred or so others arrested was thrown out by a judge because of the lack of city ordinance specifying such actions as ours to block the parade.
I had some problems with those arrests because of the overt cooperation of the organizers with the Denver police in carrying out the arrests.
In fact, it wasn’t a Denver police officer who came to escort me to the holding area for the arrest and to board the bus to take us to the city jail. It was a member of the organizers security team.
I had previous arrests to oppose the wars against the Iraqi and Afghan peoples that are clearly a screen to exploit them for their resources and the strategic locations of their countries. As a combat veteran, I know the devastation of war on the soldiers and Marines and the people of the nations invaded.
Every day I see the racism of this country at work either in the execution of war or in the administration of justice or the care of the poor. Every day I find it appalling the European mindset prevails in the way it does.
I was asked by a brother to go to this year’s march from the four directions of Earth to the site of this year’s Columbus Day parade in Denver. I passed because of the collusion and cooperation I felt in the last assembly in which I was arrested.
Today, the Monday of the holiday celebrating Columbus, I’m greatly sorry I failed to join my brothers and sisters in their opposition. I see the connection of what started back in 1492 and continues to this day.
Paul Rafferty an observer and writer of UN Observer and International Report made a brilliant point in his column on October 7, 2007.
"Oddly, the name “Christopher” means “Christ-Bearer”. Perhaps, it is time to honour Christopher Columbus, in a Christian manner, by making restitution for past sins and by attempting to follow the basic principles of Christianity and “Love of one’s neighbour, as oneself”..
The Vatican might begin to set an example, by rescinding the Medieval Papal Bulls which authorised Genocide and along with other “Christian” organisations look into their own practices, during the colonial, imperial period – and now.
The United States could make a start by honouring the Treaties made with the Native American Nations.
All the governments of the Western Hemisphere might also begin to recognise the fact that whatever achievements they may attain, all is built upon stolen land."
Richard King of Washington state’s The Daily Evergreen writes about the need to end Columbus Day in his column today (October 8, 2007):
In studying his journals, accounts of his contemporaries and historical analyses, it becomes clear the ambitious and intrepid explorer neither discovered America, nor brought civilization to the savages. Instead – even though lost – he displayed great arrogance upon encountering numerous diverse and sophisticated native nations, believing them to be less than human.
His achievements in the Caribbean include enslaving and plundering; implementing punitive policies that included cutting off the hands of those who did not bring his invading force enough gold; allowing, if not encouraging, massacres; the destruction of families and communities and a cavalier blood sport in which his soldiers would routinely laid wagers on whether they could manage to slice a man in two at a stroke, or cut an individual’s head from his body with a single blow of their axes. Eyewitness accounts estimate more than 5 million people were exterminated within the first three years of his arrival.
Although we may want stop short of naming Columbus a terrorist or comparing him to Hitler as some are wont to do, I find it hard to believe we celebrate a holiday each October to honor the man, his character or his accomplishments. Rather, the holiday allows the telling of stories about the founding of America. One thing that makes these stores about Columbus so powerful is that they serve as an origin myth, which encourage Americans to remember a heroic past devoid of conflict, pain and power. The celebrations and stories constituting this collective memory of when and how the nation came to be erase much of what actually happened, excluding from view uneasy experiences and untidy complexities shaping the emergence and evolution of the United States. Enshrining Columbus not only gives the American experience a meaningful beginning, but more importantly denies the genocidal and imperial acts that were to follow as Europeans sought to exploit resources and extended their hegemony.
Columbus Day allows Americans to forget the past and to deny its implications for the present. Moreover, miseducation has caused many Americans not to recognize American Indians, their perspectives and their lasting presence, leaving them without empathy for or awareness of the joys and struggles of Native Americans.
Perhaps Americans continue to celebrate Columbus Day because they do not know better and have been encouraged not to remember or feel the pain and violence at the heart of the American experience. I fear that forgetting is just another expression of the anti-Indianism initiated with Columbus’ arrival. Those of us teaching and learning at a land grant institution on native land have a special obligation to never forget. We have a responsibility to find ways to bring more American Indian students, staff and faculty to WSU, and with them indigenous ways of knowing and being. Increased offerings in indigenous studies would be one path toward this end, another would be to increase the funding and prominence of The Plateau Center for American Indian Studies. Small steps to be sure, but essential efforts if we are to come to terms with Columbus, empire and injustice, and open spaces for reconciliation and understanding."
So why do me like George Vendegnia, a parade organizer in Denver, continue to insult and ignore the objections of Native American citizens?
"With this protest, it's just motivating people more to be back next year and exercise their right to participate in an American holiday," Vendegnia said.
And why does the alleged liberal mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper, continue to allow the overtly racist parade to take place in the streets of this city?
I can only answer for my failure to attend the demonstration against the parade. I’m of European ancestors who came here with the idea they could steal another people’s land and enslave them all in the name of God. But I get it. I understand the hatefulness of people like Vendegnia.
I remember the 60’s and Bull Connor using dogs and fire hoses against the “freedom marchers” with Martin Luther King.
I remember the assassination of Medger Evers.
I remember the occupation of Wounded Knee and the kangaroo court trials.
I remember Malcolm X being assassinated.
I remember Martin Luther King’s assassination.
People like me need to make the connections of the racist events of terror and violence against our brothers and sisters of color and non-European ancestry. We need to “get it”.
Martin Luther King eloquently stated:
“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”
“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”
I must heed the words of Chief Joseph:
“Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people.
They do not pay for my country, now overrun by white men. They do not protect my father’s grave. They do not pay for all my horses and cattle.
Good words cannot give me back my children.
Good words will not give my people good health and stop them from dying.
Good words will not get my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves.
I am tired of talk that comes to nothing It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk.”
If I fail to join the brothers and sisters my ancestors enslaved and killed and fail to object to the continued celebration of men like Columbus, I have given validation to men and women like Vendegnia.
There are allegedly rights to say whatever you desire in this country but a state and national government should not endorse perpetrators of crime and genocide.
Italian-Americans can be proud of many men and women in their history but their pride for Columbus is akin to wearing hoods and carrying burning crosses.
The Catholic Church’s failure to disavow the Knight’s of Columbus moniker for its men’s service organization is a continued perpetration of racism and an endorsement of a man in history that caused incalculable horror and death.
The European culture has dominated this nation since its first days and failed to address the lies and crimes committed in its expansion as a nation. We continue to neglect and ignore the truth of history.
We continue to ignore the wounds of history.
We fail our brothers and sisters whose ancestors cared for this land long before the arrival of Europeans.
The time to honor their history and their wounds is long past due. We need to stop inflicting the wounds with celebrations such as Columbus Day.
I apologize to my brother who invited me to the rally and march to oppose the racist parade. I failed you and the brothers and sisters who placed themselves in harm’s way to end this hateful event.
I do want you to know I understand the connection between calling Iraqis “sand niggers”, Vietnamese being called “gooks” and Christopher Columbus calling indigenous peoples “savages and heathens”.
I may not always be there but my spirit and solidarity will always reflect my disdain toward the ones who continue to foster the hate and racist thinking.
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
USMC combat veteran (infantryman)
Denver VVAW member
They used to teach us other lies, too. Like this nation is a democracy. Like “all men are created equal”. Like this is the land of freedom.
It used to be I had an almost reverent opinion of my school teachers who taught me these things. I felt teachers were to be honored because they brought knowledge to children. I found out too late they really served as the carriers of the disease of nationalism and capitalism.
I found out too late my teachers fed me full of European lies that were racist to the core. And to this day, they continue to do so. How do I know? Because, to this day, this nation and this city of Denver continues to honor the genocidal exploits of the Italian sailor called Columbus.
The Catholic Church continues to honor a man who plundered and destroyed the cultures of indigenous peoples by his staking claim and literally stealing the lands of these peoples. The Knights of Columbus continue to be an active men’s organization in the Church.
Columbus set into action hundreds of years of destruction and death targeting indigenous peoples in North and South Americas and the areas in the vicinity. He brought the arrogance of the European barbarians to the shores of the Americas and used the Church to justify his barbarism.
I recently read a column by Paul Campos (The Rocky Mountain News, October 2, 2007) about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that caught my attention when the writer captured the European/American mindset in one of his paragraphs. He said:
“In short, when a political leader claims he is the head of a unique nation, anointed by history or even God himself to be a light unto the world, we tend to consider him either an amusing crank or a dangerous lunatic.
Unless that leader happens to an American president - then he's merely stating a self-evident truth”.
That same mindset continues today in the continued arrogance of certain Americans celebrating Christopher Columbus. Here in Denver, that group is mostly Italian-Americans who refuse to acknowledge the racism of Columbus.
They refuse to understand the insult their yearly parades honoring this man is toward the descendants of the indigenous peoples he enslaved and killed after he and his troops had stolen their lands in their Christian self-righteousness.
This past Saturday, October 6, 2007, Italian-Americans in Denver organized a parade to run in the downtown area of the city. And once again a large group of Native Americans and supporters came to block their way in the parade route.
83 of the protestors were arrested by the Denver Police Department dressed in riot gear, pointing weapons, wielding offensive batons and using pain holds.
It was clear the police were practicing for the upcoming 2008 Democratic Convention to be held in Denver. The message is clear that the Denver Police Department will utilize a violent response to any protestors at the convention.
The 83 protestors arrested at the Columbus Day Parade included the leaders and organizers of the protest. This is another clear message to be kept in mind for the upcoming convention.
The Columbus Day “holiday” started in Denver in 1907 and later became a national holiday. It has been slowly diminished in status because employers no longer want to pay holiday pay or let employees have the day off. It even receded somewhat in stature here in Denver until the last ten to fifteen years.
Now it has become a yearly event for a group of revisionist Italian-Americans to hold the parade in acknowledged defiance of the local Native American community’s objection to a man who slaughtered and enslaved their historical ancestors.
The Italian-Americans feel it their God given right to enshrine and celebrate a man responsible for more deaths than Hitler by saying his actions were only acts that were common during that time in history.
They even go so far as trying to make the indigenous peoples out as villains and savages because they fought back in attempts to save the land that was rightfully theirs. Today, no doubt, the Italians would say the indigenous peoples were “insurgents” or “terrorists”.
There is a great correlation to the continued American “manifest destiny” and “American exceptionalism” throughout the world and the annihilation of the Native American population began by Columbus.
Today our indigenous peoples are located in Iraq and Afghanistan. During “my war of liberation” it was the Vietnamese.
The savages or insurgents or terrorists or guerillas of American history have always been described in ways to demonize and vilify a culture and people. The young of the Euro-centric education system aren’t allowed to learn about these cultures unless they take it upon themselves to do so.
The omission of knowledge about cultures other than European taught in public schools and most other schools in this nation has made it easy to recruit young men (and now young women) into the military to fight the “demons” opposing our way of life. Lack of knowledge about a culture has made it easy to have My Lai and Haditha type events to occur.
It is no mistake the troops going to these remote nations have lack of knowledge about their cultures. If we were to make a people human by learning about their ways of life it would become more difficult to kill them. And so it was with the indigenous people Christopher Columbus encountered.
Peoples with ancient ways of preserving lands and living in peace were seen as heathens and savages because they weren’t Christians. They weren’t Europeans. Their skin tones were dark and therefore seen as inferior.
I grew up in this state, living most of the time here in Denver. During my school years state history was a required subject from grade school until high school. I vividly remember reading about the miners and settlers of the state but there was seldom a mention of the true natives of this state.
Sure, we learned about Mesa Verde and mysterious cave dwellers that disappeared centuries before the European ever arrived. We learned there were Ute, Araphoe, Sioux, Cheyenne, Apache and Navaho tribes that once had large numbers here.
We didn’t learn about the Sand Creek Massacre. We didn’t learn about the cultures of these tribes.
I don’t remember Native Americans being in my Denver Public Schools classes in the 1960’s. I look back now and about the only thing I remember indicating Native Americans once owned this land are the street names.
Many of the streets in the city bear tribal names which few of us give a second thought. Few of us care about the origin of those names.
A few years back I was arrested at one of the Columbus Day parades for blocking the route of the Italians and their associates celebrating the man responsible for the start of the continued genocide of the natives of this land.
The cases against me and the hundred or so others arrested was thrown out by a judge because of the lack of city ordinance specifying such actions as ours to block the parade.
I had some problems with those arrests because of the overt cooperation of the organizers with the Denver police in carrying out the arrests.
In fact, it wasn’t a Denver police officer who came to escort me to the holding area for the arrest and to board the bus to take us to the city jail. It was a member of the organizers security team.
I had previous arrests to oppose the wars against the Iraqi and Afghan peoples that are clearly a screen to exploit them for their resources and the strategic locations of their countries. As a combat veteran, I know the devastation of war on the soldiers and Marines and the people of the nations invaded.
Every day I see the racism of this country at work either in the execution of war or in the administration of justice or the care of the poor. Every day I find it appalling the European mindset prevails in the way it does.
I was asked by a brother to go to this year’s march from the four directions of Earth to the site of this year’s Columbus Day parade in Denver. I passed because of the collusion and cooperation I felt in the last assembly in which I was arrested.
Today, the Monday of the holiday celebrating Columbus, I’m greatly sorry I failed to join my brothers and sisters in their opposition. I see the connection of what started back in 1492 and continues to this day.
Paul Rafferty an observer and writer of UN Observer and International Report made a brilliant point in his column on October 7, 2007.
"Oddly, the name “Christopher” means “Christ-Bearer”. Perhaps, it is time to honour Christopher Columbus, in a Christian manner, by making restitution for past sins and by attempting to follow the basic principles of Christianity and “Love of one’s neighbour, as oneself”..
The Vatican might begin to set an example, by rescinding the Medieval Papal Bulls which authorised Genocide and along with other “Christian” organisations look into their own practices, during the colonial, imperial period – and now.
The United States could make a start by honouring the Treaties made with the Native American Nations.
All the governments of the Western Hemisphere might also begin to recognise the fact that whatever achievements they may attain, all is built upon stolen land."
Richard King of Washington state’s The Daily Evergreen writes about the need to end Columbus Day in his column today (October 8, 2007):
In studying his journals, accounts of his contemporaries and historical analyses, it becomes clear the ambitious and intrepid explorer neither discovered America, nor brought civilization to the savages. Instead – even though lost – he displayed great arrogance upon encountering numerous diverse and sophisticated native nations, believing them to be less than human.
His achievements in the Caribbean include enslaving and plundering; implementing punitive policies that included cutting off the hands of those who did not bring his invading force enough gold; allowing, if not encouraging, massacres; the destruction of families and communities and a cavalier blood sport in which his soldiers would routinely laid wagers on whether they could manage to slice a man in two at a stroke, or cut an individual’s head from his body with a single blow of their axes. Eyewitness accounts estimate more than 5 million people were exterminated within the first three years of his arrival.
Although we may want stop short of naming Columbus a terrorist or comparing him to Hitler as some are wont to do, I find it hard to believe we celebrate a holiday each October to honor the man, his character or his accomplishments. Rather, the holiday allows the telling of stories about the founding of America. One thing that makes these stores about Columbus so powerful is that they serve as an origin myth, which encourage Americans to remember a heroic past devoid of conflict, pain and power. The celebrations and stories constituting this collective memory of when and how the nation came to be erase much of what actually happened, excluding from view uneasy experiences and untidy complexities shaping the emergence and evolution of the United States. Enshrining Columbus not only gives the American experience a meaningful beginning, but more importantly denies the genocidal and imperial acts that were to follow as Europeans sought to exploit resources and extended their hegemony.
Columbus Day allows Americans to forget the past and to deny its implications for the present. Moreover, miseducation has caused many Americans not to recognize American Indians, their perspectives and their lasting presence, leaving them without empathy for or awareness of the joys and struggles of Native Americans.
Perhaps Americans continue to celebrate Columbus Day because they do not know better and have been encouraged not to remember or feel the pain and violence at the heart of the American experience. I fear that forgetting is just another expression of the anti-Indianism initiated with Columbus’ arrival. Those of us teaching and learning at a land grant institution on native land have a special obligation to never forget. We have a responsibility to find ways to bring more American Indian students, staff and faculty to WSU, and with them indigenous ways of knowing and being. Increased offerings in indigenous studies would be one path toward this end, another would be to increase the funding and prominence of The Plateau Center for American Indian Studies. Small steps to be sure, but essential efforts if we are to come to terms with Columbus, empire and injustice, and open spaces for reconciliation and understanding."
So why do me like George Vendegnia, a parade organizer in Denver, continue to insult and ignore the objections of Native American citizens?
"With this protest, it's just motivating people more to be back next year and exercise their right to participate in an American holiday," Vendegnia said.
And why does the alleged liberal mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper, continue to allow the overtly racist parade to take place in the streets of this city?
I can only answer for my failure to attend the demonstration against the parade. I’m of European ancestors who came here with the idea they could steal another people’s land and enslave them all in the name of God. But I get it. I understand the hatefulness of people like Vendegnia.
I remember the 60’s and Bull Connor using dogs and fire hoses against the “freedom marchers” with Martin Luther King.
I remember the assassination of Medger Evers.
I remember the occupation of Wounded Knee and the kangaroo court trials.
I remember Malcolm X being assassinated.
I remember Martin Luther King’s assassination.
People like me need to make the connections of the racist events of terror and violence against our brothers and sisters of color and non-European ancestry. We need to “get it”.
Martin Luther King eloquently stated:
“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”
“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”
I must heed the words of Chief Joseph:
“Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people.
They do not pay for my country, now overrun by white men. They do not protect my father’s grave. They do not pay for all my horses and cattle.
Good words cannot give me back my children.
Good words will not give my people good health and stop them from dying.
Good words will not get my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves.
I am tired of talk that comes to nothing It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk.”
If I fail to join the brothers and sisters my ancestors enslaved and killed and fail to object to the continued celebration of men like Columbus, I have given validation to men and women like Vendegnia.
There are allegedly rights to say whatever you desire in this country but a state and national government should not endorse perpetrators of crime and genocide.
Italian-Americans can be proud of many men and women in their history but their pride for Columbus is akin to wearing hoods and carrying burning crosses.
The Catholic Church’s failure to disavow the Knight’s of Columbus moniker for its men’s service organization is a continued perpetration of racism and an endorsement of a man in history that caused incalculable horror and death.
The European culture has dominated this nation since its first days and failed to address the lies and crimes committed in its expansion as a nation. We continue to neglect and ignore the truth of history.
We continue to ignore the wounds of history.
We fail our brothers and sisters whose ancestors cared for this land long before the arrival of Europeans.
The time to honor their history and their wounds is long past due. We need to stop inflicting the wounds with celebrations such as Columbus Day.
I apologize to my brother who invited me to the rally and march to oppose the racist parade. I failed you and the brothers and sisters who placed themselves in harm’s way to end this hateful event.
I do want you to know I understand the connection between calling Iraqis “sand niggers”, Vietnamese being called “gooks” and Christopher Columbus calling indigenous peoples “savages and heathens”.
I may not always be there but my spirit and solidarity will always reflect my disdain toward the ones who continue to foster the hate and racist thinking.
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
USMC combat veteran (infantryman)
Denver VVAW member
Monday, October 1
Toxic Care
Toxic Care
I spoke with a mom yesterday who told me her son who served as a combat medic in Iraq is having his PTSD diagnosis revoked until he can produce three witnesses to corroborate his traumatic events. The soldier was in Iraq two years ago. He was transferred from his unit in Iraq to work as a medic in Walter Reed’s traumatic brain injury unit.
He became so agitated and disturbed with Walter Reed he requested a transfer back to a combat unit and was sent to a unit about to deploy to Afghanistan. He didn’t redeploy because of a physical injury sustained in Iraq that required surgical repair.
As he was rehabilitating, the soldier began to self medicate and was having combat nightmares. He was constantly depressed and having suicidal thinking at times. He resisted seeking mental health care because he felt it would adversely affect him if he did have to redeploy. He feared others in his unit wouldn’t trust him if he was considered a “nut case”.
Finally with continuing urging from his family and friends outside the military, the soldier did seek mental health care. He also turned against the war and joined anti-war veterans to oppose the war when he wasn’t on duty.
The soldier was diagnosed with PTSD, Adjustment Disorder and Depression. He also entered a drug rehab program to help with his self-medicating. The Army came to the conclusion the soldier couldn’t be successfully rehabilitated while in the service. He’s to receive a medical discharge in the near future.
The parting gift of the Army for the young man who served as a combat medic is to demand he find three fellow soldiers to verify he witnessed the traumatic events of war that has led him to be suicidal, depressed, insomniac, hyper-vigilant and paranoid and driven him to using too much alcohol.
The Army says the soldier can go to the VA to regain his diagnosis of PTSD once discharged. His mom rightfully worries it will be a long time before he can be seen at the VA to determine he has PTSD that has already once been diagnosed. She worries he’ll be without treatment and his symptoms and problems will worsen.
I also recently spoke with a soldier who was about to be redeployed even though he’d been diagnosed with PTSD, Adjustment Disorder and Major Depression. The young soldier had attempted to harm himself but a fellow soldier had intervened.
Another soldier, the combat medic mentioned above, had called me because he was worried this soldier would harm himself before he deployed or once back in Iraq. He asked that I call his friend to advise him about his mental health issues.
I called and began a lengthy evaluation of the soldier’s situation over the phone. I have several years experience working with psychiatric emergency teams or in a psychiatric emergency room.
The soldier was very polite, using the word, “Sir”, often in our discussion. He told me he was worried he couldn’t perform the duties he would be asked to do if he were in Iraq because he was having daily panic attacks. The attacks were increasing in numbers and duration.
The soldier also had an eighteen year old wife who had taken a restraining order out against him. There hadn’t been violence but the soldier had become involved in verbal altercations with his wife and she was frightened he might act out against her.
He also has a three month old daughter he hasn’t been able to see since the restraining order. He worries about the care of the daughter because he found out his wife is going out with friends every weekend while leaving the daughter with the wife’s mother. The wife was spending late hours in bars with high school friends.
He reported having suicidal thoughts almost daily. He says he’s had thoughts of killing his squad leader who has been petty and harassing toward him since his return from Iraq.
The soldier was seen by an Army psychologist recently and diagnosed with PTSD, Adjustment Disorder and Major Depression. The psychologist arranged an appointment with an Army psychiatrist for the soldier to be evaluated for medication treatment.
The appointment date with the doctor just happened to be one day after the soldier was to redeploy to Iraq. His command told him mental health treatment would be available for him once he got settled in his base at Iraq.
The Combat Stress Team wasn’t based at the camp the soldier was to be assigned to, however. The soldier would have to be taken by convoy to the base the stress team was located. Fellow soldiers would have to accompany him to go to the appointments for his treatment.
The soldier adamantly told me he’d never put fellow soldiers at risk for possible IED and roadside bomb attacks to transport him to have treatment. He was also clear he felt he’d be unable to be as reactive and alert as he would need to be in a combat situation because his panic attacks were unpredictable and made him “freeze up”.
The soldier asked me if I felt he should be treated before returning to Iraq. I reviewed his risk factors with him. He had panic attacks with increasing regularity and intensity. He had suicidal thinking. He was having domestic problems. He had homicidal thinking. He faced a return to combat and he was untreated for any of his emotional problems.
The soldier was sure he couldn’t get the help he wanted through the military healthcare system because he’d already tried and they dismissed his symptoms as normal. He didn’t feel they were “normal”.
My assessment from our discussion was the soldier had significant risks that would make him a danger to himself or others. I felt his risks would be especially debilitating should he be in a combat zone trying to perform the duties of a combat infantryman.
I told him that I wouldn’t want him to be covering my back in the condition he described. I felt I had a certain expertise from my own combat experiences as a Marine infantryman in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive and the following eleven months.
I suggested the soldier could use a civilian hospital emergency room to get a full psychiatric evaluation since he felt sure the Army hospital on base wouldn’t address his mental health issues. The soldier told me he’d consider taking such action.
I found out the soldier did go to a local hospital ED the following day with two active duty soldiers accompanying him. He was placed on a mental health hold and admitted to the hospital’s psychiatric unit. The hospital kept the soldier hospitalized over a week before discharging him back to the military.
In today’s healthcare system being admitted to a psychiatric unit requires an individual be an extreme risk to themselves or others or be gravely disabled. The fact this soldier was hospitalized verified what I feared when I spoke with him.
The soldier was medically discharged from the Army under honorable conditions about a week after he left the civilian hospital. Now he faces getting his treatment expedited at the VA.
The good news in his story would be he didn’t go to Iraq and possibly endanger his own life or the lives of his fellow soldiers. Had the soldier gone along with the military in seeking help for his PTSD condition he’d be in Iraq with his symptoms worsening every day he was in country. And, he’d be without treatment.
Another mom called a friend of mine seeking help for her son stationed in Iraq. My friend works with local military families who are opposed to the war. Her son is the combat medic I first wrote about.
The mom with her son in Iraq was frantic because her son had gotten in trouble with his command. He was facing a Summary Court Martial for threatening the life of his 1st Sergeant, failing to carry out several normal duties expected of him and missing several formations.
The soldier had seen some of his fellow troops killed during his tour in Iraq and had been shot himself but his Kevlar vest had prevented him being wounded. He was also suicidal as well as homicidal.
His command placed the soldier on suicide watch in a closet which was situated next door to the quarters of his 1st Sergeant. The closet was full of potential weapons or implements the soldier could harm himself or someone else with if he wasn’t closely watched.
This soldier enlisted in Colorado despite his mom’s objection. His mom was terribly worried about him enlisting because he’d been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder when he was eight years old.
He’d been treated with medications with only partial effectiveness up until the time of his enlistment. His psychiatrist, who testified by phone at his Summary Court Martial, stated he would be unable to function in the Army if he stopped taking his medication and in all likelihood even if medicated he’d be unable to withstand military life.
The soldier’s recruiter in Colorado was informed of his ADD by the mother. The recruiter told the mom he’d “note” it on the recruit’s record. During an Inspector General’s investigation the soldier asked for, there was no record of the recruiter “noting” the ADD diagnosis.
The soldier says the recruiter had advised him not to mention the diagnosis because plenty of soldiers had the ADD diagnosis. The recruiter denied doing this during the IG inspection. The IG found no basis for the recruiter falsely enlisting the soldier. They did find basis for the soldier being prosecuted for fraudulent enlistment under federal law. If convicted of that charge the soldier could be sentenced up to ten years in federal prison.
The soldier’s mom went to her congressman’s office for help. She was patronized by the military liaison. He told her the soldier should just go along with “the program” to avoid problems. He said the soldier reminded him of himself when he was a young rebellious soldier.
The mom then went to her Senator’s office. They told her it would take up to three weeks to do a welfare check. They also told her the soldier faced “big trouble” for his fraudulent enlistment and should just accept the Summary Court Martial and move on with his military service.
Finally the mom became frantic and called my friend who works with military families. She had some previous contact with the Senator’s military liaison. My friend was able to cajole the liaison to make an inquiry faster than the three weeks the mom had been told it would take.
The mom was also advised to seek legal assistance. She hired a local attorney who had military law experience. The attorney contacted a friend in the Green Zone to request he make inquiries about the soldier’s case.
The attorney in the Green Zone told the local attorney the commanding officer of the soldier planned on making an “example” of the soldier because he’d made a threat against the 1st Sergeant.
He also said the Combat Stress Team refused to become involved while the soldier was under indictment for a Summary Court Martial. Only the soldier’s civilian psychiatrist would testify about his mental health problems.
The soldier was convicted and sentenced to 15 days in the stockade in Kuwait and another 15 days in a Baghdad stockade. After his Baghdad incarceration the soldier is to return to his unit under the same command of the 1st Sergeant and commanding officer.
Currently there has been conflicting reports the Army plans on mustering the soldier out with a medical discharge based on his preexisting condition of ADD or that he will have to make up the time spent in the stockade and finish his tour in Iraq.
If the soldier is discharged for the preexisting condition he’ll be ineligible for VA benefits and all other veteran benefits. He’ll be without benefits despite being shot and spending time in combat.
The last time the mom heard from her son he told her he’d still not been given medications despite the psychiatrist’s testimony. In fact, the soldier hasn’t had medications since he joined the military.
There is some research that shows the regimentation of the military is beneficial to individuals diagnosed with ADD. The military does give waivers for individuals with ADD but their regulations state the person must have a stage of ADD that is controllable.
This soldier’s psychiatrist stated the soldier has never been fully controlled even with a higher dose of medications. He functioned poorly in school and in his attempts to go to college. And still the military seems to hold on to the need to not only punish the soldier but to further exacerbate his condition by returning him to a combat condition.
And a mother continues to frantically try saving her son from the possible horrible consequences of a toxic military healthcare system that seems to lack all standards of care normally expected in the treatment of mental health problems.
And we have to wonder just how many more mothers and fathers face such horrors for their children. How many parents have gone along with the suggested chain of command “ways” and lost a child because of it?
The latest news about the care of returning soldiers with both physical and mental health problems remains much the same as before the Walter Reed story came to light.
Now it’s coming to light that many of the troops who have lost limbs or are disabled because of mental health problems also face bankruptcy, loss of homes and poverty because of a system wide failure to provide the needed care and to compensate at a level above impoverishment when a disability is given a veteran.
The American support of troops obviously stops once the troops have done the bidding of their military masters. We fail to remember what was asked of the young men and women who sought to serve their country once they return.
We’ve become a disposable society to such an extent we aren’t troubled with the disposal of our young troops. Just as we marginalize the communities of color and poverty, we’ve come to do the same with the veteran.
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
Psychiatric RN
USMC combat infantry veteran
RVN 1967-69
I spoke with a mom yesterday who told me her son who served as a combat medic in Iraq is having his PTSD diagnosis revoked until he can produce three witnesses to corroborate his traumatic events. The soldier was in Iraq two years ago. He was transferred from his unit in Iraq to work as a medic in Walter Reed’s traumatic brain injury unit.
He became so agitated and disturbed with Walter Reed he requested a transfer back to a combat unit and was sent to a unit about to deploy to Afghanistan. He didn’t redeploy because of a physical injury sustained in Iraq that required surgical repair.
As he was rehabilitating, the soldier began to self medicate and was having combat nightmares. He was constantly depressed and having suicidal thinking at times. He resisted seeking mental health care because he felt it would adversely affect him if he did have to redeploy. He feared others in his unit wouldn’t trust him if he was considered a “nut case”.
Finally with continuing urging from his family and friends outside the military, the soldier did seek mental health care. He also turned against the war and joined anti-war veterans to oppose the war when he wasn’t on duty.
The soldier was diagnosed with PTSD, Adjustment Disorder and Depression. He also entered a drug rehab program to help with his self-medicating. The Army came to the conclusion the soldier couldn’t be successfully rehabilitated while in the service. He’s to receive a medical discharge in the near future.
The parting gift of the Army for the young man who served as a combat medic is to demand he find three fellow soldiers to verify he witnessed the traumatic events of war that has led him to be suicidal, depressed, insomniac, hyper-vigilant and paranoid and driven him to using too much alcohol.
The Army says the soldier can go to the VA to regain his diagnosis of PTSD once discharged. His mom rightfully worries it will be a long time before he can be seen at the VA to determine he has PTSD that has already once been diagnosed. She worries he’ll be without treatment and his symptoms and problems will worsen.
I also recently spoke with a soldier who was about to be redeployed even though he’d been diagnosed with PTSD, Adjustment Disorder and Major Depression. The young soldier had attempted to harm himself but a fellow soldier had intervened.
Another soldier, the combat medic mentioned above, had called me because he was worried this soldier would harm himself before he deployed or once back in Iraq. He asked that I call his friend to advise him about his mental health issues.
I called and began a lengthy evaluation of the soldier’s situation over the phone. I have several years experience working with psychiatric emergency teams or in a psychiatric emergency room.
The soldier was very polite, using the word, “Sir”, often in our discussion. He told me he was worried he couldn’t perform the duties he would be asked to do if he were in Iraq because he was having daily panic attacks. The attacks were increasing in numbers and duration.
The soldier also had an eighteen year old wife who had taken a restraining order out against him. There hadn’t been violence but the soldier had become involved in verbal altercations with his wife and she was frightened he might act out against her.
He also has a three month old daughter he hasn’t been able to see since the restraining order. He worries about the care of the daughter because he found out his wife is going out with friends every weekend while leaving the daughter with the wife’s mother. The wife was spending late hours in bars with high school friends.
He reported having suicidal thoughts almost daily. He says he’s had thoughts of killing his squad leader who has been petty and harassing toward him since his return from Iraq.
The soldier was seen by an Army psychologist recently and diagnosed with PTSD, Adjustment Disorder and Major Depression. The psychologist arranged an appointment with an Army psychiatrist for the soldier to be evaluated for medication treatment.
The appointment date with the doctor just happened to be one day after the soldier was to redeploy to Iraq. His command told him mental health treatment would be available for him once he got settled in his base at Iraq.
The Combat Stress Team wasn’t based at the camp the soldier was to be assigned to, however. The soldier would have to be taken by convoy to the base the stress team was located. Fellow soldiers would have to accompany him to go to the appointments for his treatment.
The soldier adamantly told me he’d never put fellow soldiers at risk for possible IED and roadside bomb attacks to transport him to have treatment. He was also clear he felt he’d be unable to be as reactive and alert as he would need to be in a combat situation because his panic attacks were unpredictable and made him “freeze up”.
The soldier asked me if I felt he should be treated before returning to Iraq. I reviewed his risk factors with him. He had panic attacks with increasing regularity and intensity. He had suicidal thinking. He was having domestic problems. He had homicidal thinking. He faced a return to combat and he was untreated for any of his emotional problems.
The soldier was sure he couldn’t get the help he wanted through the military healthcare system because he’d already tried and they dismissed his symptoms as normal. He didn’t feel they were “normal”.
My assessment from our discussion was the soldier had significant risks that would make him a danger to himself or others. I felt his risks would be especially debilitating should he be in a combat zone trying to perform the duties of a combat infantryman.
I told him that I wouldn’t want him to be covering my back in the condition he described. I felt I had a certain expertise from my own combat experiences as a Marine infantryman in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive and the following eleven months.
I suggested the soldier could use a civilian hospital emergency room to get a full psychiatric evaluation since he felt sure the Army hospital on base wouldn’t address his mental health issues. The soldier told me he’d consider taking such action.
I found out the soldier did go to a local hospital ED the following day with two active duty soldiers accompanying him. He was placed on a mental health hold and admitted to the hospital’s psychiatric unit. The hospital kept the soldier hospitalized over a week before discharging him back to the military.
In today’s healthcare system being admitted to a psychiatric unit requires an individual be an extreme risk to themselves or others or be gravely disabled. The fact this soldier was hospitalized verified what I feared when I spoke with him.
The soldier was medically discharged from the Army under honorable conditions about a week after he left the civilian hospital. Now he faces getting his treatment expedited at the VA.
The good news in his story would be he didn’t go to Iraq and possibly endanger his own life or the lives of his fellow soldiers. Had the soldier gone along with the military in seeking help for his PTSD condition he’d be in Iraq with his symptoms worsening every day he was in country. And, he’d be without treatment.
Another mom called a friend of mine seeking help for her son stationed in Iraq. My friend works with local military families who are opposed to the war. Her son is the combat medic I first wrote about.
The mom with her son in Iraq was frantic because her son had gotten in trouble with his command. He was facing a Summary Court Martial for threatening the life of his 1st Sergeant, failing to carry out several normal duties expected of him and missing several formations.
The soldier had seen some of his fellow troops killed during his tour in Iraq and had been shot himself but his Kevlar vest had prevented him being wounded. He was also suicidal as well as homicidal.
His command placed the soldier on suicide watch in a closet which was situated next door to the quarters of his 1st Sergeant. The closet was full of potential weapons or implements the soldier could harm himself or someone else with if he wasn’t closely watched.
This soldier enlisted in Colorado despite his mom’s objection. His mom was terribly worried about him enlisting because he’d been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder when he was eight years old.
He’d been treated with medications with only partial effectiveness up until the time of his enlistment. His psychiatrist, who testified by phone at his Summary Court Martial, stated he would be unable to function in the Army if he stopped taking his medication and in all likelihood even if medicated he’d be unable to withstand military life.
The soldier’s recruiter in Colorado was informed of his ADD by the mother. The recruiter told the mom he’d “note” it on the recruit’s record. During an Inspector General’s investigation the soldier asked for, there was no record of the recruiter “noting” the ADD diagnosis.
The soldier says the recruiter had advised him not to mention the diagnosis because plenty of soldiers had the ADD diagnosis. The recruiter denied doing this during the IG inspection. The IG found no basis for the recruiter falsely enlisting the soldier. They did find basis for the soldier being prosecuted for fraudulent enlistment under federal law. If convicted of that charge the soldier could be sentenced up to ten years in federal prison.
The soldier’s mom went to her congressman’s office for help. She was patronized by the military liaison. He told her the soldier should just go along with “the program” to avoid problems. He said the soldier reminded him of himself when he was a young rebellious soldier.
The mom then went to her Senator’s office. They told her it would take up to three weeks to do a welfare check. They also told her the soldier faced “big trouble” for his fraudulent enlistment and should just accept the Summary Court Martial and move on with his military service.
Finally the mom became frantic and called my friend who works with military families. She had some previous contact with the Senator’s military liaison. My friend was able to cajole the liaison to make an inquiry faster than the three weeks the mom had been told it would take.
The mom was also advised to seek legal assistance. She hired a local attorney who had military law experience. The attorney contacted a friend in the Green Zone to request he make inquiries about the soldier’s case.
The attorney in the Green Zone told the local attorney the commanding officer of the soldier planned on making an “example” of the soldier because he’d made a threat against the 1st Sergeant.
He also said the Combat Stress Team refused to become involved while the soldier was under indictment for a Summary Court Martial. Only the soldier’s civilian psychiatrist would testify about his mental health problems.
The soldier was convicted and sentenced to 15 days in the stockade in Kuwait and another 15 days in a Baghdad stockade. After his Baghdad incarceration the soldier is to return to his unit under the same command of the 1st Sergeant and commanding officer.
Currently there has been conflicting reports the Army plans on mustering the soldier out with a medical discharge based on his preexisting condition of ADD or that he will have to make up the time spent in the stockade and finish his tour in Iraq.
If the soldier is discharged for the preexisting condition he’ll be ineligible for VA benefits and all other veteran benefits. He’ll be without benefits despite being shot and spending time in combat.
The last time the mom heard from her son he told her he’d still not been given medications despite the psychiatrist’s testimony. In fact, the soldier hasn’t had medications since he joined the military.
There is some research that shows the regimentation of the military is beneficial to individuals diagnosed with ADD. The military does give waivers for individuals with ADD but their regulations state the person must have a stage of ADD that is controllable.
This soldier’s psychiatrist stated the soldier has never been fully controlled even with a higher dose of medications. He functioned poorly in school and in his attempts to go to college. And still the military seems to hold on to the need to not only punish the soldier but to further exacerbate his condition by returning him to a combat condition.
And a mother continues to frantically try saving her son from the possible horrible consequences of a toxic military healthcare system that seems to lack all standards of care normally expected in the treatment of mental health problems.
And we have to wonder just how many more mothers and fathers face such horrors for their children. How many parents have gone along with the suggested chain of command “ways” and lost a child because of it?
The latest news about the care of returning soldiers with both physical and mental health problems remains much the same as before the Walter Reed story came to light.
Now it’s coming to light that many of the troops who have lost limbs or are disabled because of mental health problems also face bankruptcy, loss of homes and poverty because of a system wide failure to provide the needed care and to compensate at a level above impoverishment when a disability is given a veteran.
The American support of troops obviously stops once the troops have done the bidding of their military masters. We fail to remember what was asked of the young men and women who sought to serve their country once they return.
We’ve become a disposable society to such an extent we aren’t troubled with the disposal of our young troops. Just as we marginalize the communities of color and poverty, we’ve come to do the same with the veteran.
Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
Psychiatric RN
USMC combat infantry veteran
RVN 1967-69
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